Due to environmental concerns as well as increasing population, environmentally friendly and efficient power generation systems are desired. While there have recently been advances in systems that utilize renewable resources, such as solar power, wind, geothermal energy, and the like, efficiencies of such systems trail conventional turbine-based power generation systems, and costs of building such systems are relatively high. Moreover, systems that utilize renewable resources generally output variable amounts of electrical power depending upon environmental factors, such as, but not limited to cloud cover and wind speeds.
Supercritical Brayton cycle power generation systems have been proposed and theorized as efficient power generation systems. Advantages of supercritical Brayton cycle power generation systems include the utilization of an environmentally friendly, naturally occurring compound such as carbon dioxide. Additional advantages of supercritical Brayton cycle power generation systems include a relatively small footprint when compared to conventional turbine-based power generation systems. Moreover, supercritical Brayton cycle power generation systems have been theorized to have efficiencies that meet or exceed efficiencies of conventional power generation systems.
Supercritical Brayton cycle power generation systems offer a promising approach to achieving higher efficiency and more cost-effective power conversion when compared to existing steam-driven power plants, and also perhaps gas turbine power plants. A supercritical Brayton cycle power generation system is a power conversion system that utilizes a single-phase fluid operating near the critical temperature and pressure of such fluid. Generally, two types of power conversion cycles have been proposed: a recuperated Brayton cycle and a recompression Brayton cycle. Other types of power cycles, such as a power take off cycle, cycles with reheat or inter-cooling, split-flow compressor discharge cycles that heat a fraction flow rather than recuperate it, or cycles that feed all or a portion of the high pressure flow directly to a turbine while the low pressure flow leg provides the heating can also be utilized, wherein such cycles employ a Brayton cycle.
At this time, a method for predicting a balanced steady state operating point and operating conditions of a split flow recompression Brayton cycle from initial estimated parameter input conditions has not been developed.
A need remains, therefore, for a method to predict and optimize a split flow recompression Brayton cycle balanced operating steady state set of conditions using specified component performance characterizations.